"Jet Lag"

While I know that's not any kind of excuse ( I crossed one time zone yesterday) , I'm still gonna credit my travel as the reason why my workout wasn't quite what I had hoped for today. It wasn't "bad" by any stretch of the imagination but just not quite the barn burner I had hoped for. It started out fairly well as the temperature was great and there was very little wind. I decided 150 kms was a good number and as the weather man said the wind was SE I decided to head to Long Point....a place I've never been in my life. Because the weather info I get is from the London airport sometimes the wind direction isn't quite the same and today was one of those days. It was was more due south than SE but it wasn't a problem as it was fairly calm and since I'm going almost due east it was pretty well neutral to my efforts. At about 60 kms however I just about turned around because of the roads. They were the most horrible I have ever rode on for any extended period of time. I kept going on the theory that a little adversity was good for me but it was painful to feel my bike crashing in and out of potholes and cracks. I will not make that trip into Norfolk County again, at least on my bike. Norfolk used to be big tobacco growing country and maybe that's why they no longer have any money to fix the roads. We need more smokers!!

Anyway I got to the end of the road in Long Point at just over 80 kms and headed back home. I could tell that the wind had freshened a bit and I could also tell that it was starting to shift direction a little. It still wasn't that strong but by time I was down to my last 25 K it was almost full in my face and I clearly started to lag a little. Thats the problem I suppose with doing "out and backs" instead of loops closer to home, the risk that the wind could shift after the "out".

But I made it back. Just over 160 kms in 5 hours and 6 minutes for an average pace of 31.3 kms/hr. Not bad really, but I was all done by then. I headed out on my little transition run but was walking after 15 minutes, and finished the 4.5 kms in a walk/jog mode.

The other day my friend Mark asked me what I did for 5 or 6 hours on my bike and I told him that I listened to my music and thought. Well my i-pod is totally screwed now it seems, and I just couldn't imagine 5 hours of Roos heavily skewed country and so I went without today. As to what I thought about? I know that my mind was doing something the whole time, but very little of it remained in my memory banks. Not much oxygen goes to the brain I'm afraid when the body needs it all.

Soooo...These long outings are supposed to be learning sessions so what did I learn today? Well a few things I guess.

1) Never ride your bike in Norfolk County unless it's got shock absorbers.
2) I still didn't drink enough even though I had 5 large bottles of water and nourishment(1900 calories). I never peed once which is an indicator.
3)The day after travel make sure you adjust your expectations accordingly.
4)Don't be too hard on yourself. Not too many people can ride to Long Point and back!
5) Do something different to store my tire levers as I lost another one today! (vibration!!)
6)Take a pen and notepad along to record my thoughts.

I wish to dedicate day 248 to Frank Coffey, a dear old friend who I haven't seen in years. I wonder if he still rides his bike a lot?

....on expectations...

“Don't live down to expectations. Go out there and do something remarkable."---Wendy Wasserstein

“When we create something, we always create it first in a thought form. If we are basically positive in attitude, expecting and envisioning pleasure, satisfaction and happiness, we will attract and create people, situations, and events which conform to our positive expectations."---Shakti Gawain

...and on memory...

“Many complain of their memory, few of their judgment."---Benjamin Franklin

“Happiness? That's nothing more than health and a poor memory."---Albert Schweitzer

...and again, this one just because I like it...

"A Native American elder once described his own inner struggles in this manner: Inside of me there are two dogs. One of the dogs is mean and evil. The other dog is good. The mean dog fights the good dog all the time. When asked which dog wins, he reflected for a moment and replied, The one I feed the most."---George Bernard Shaw

love
peter